


I promised you a heart

by StrikerStiles



Category: The Winnowing Flame Trilogy-Jen Williams
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Spoilers, written before author read the poison song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23647621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrikerStiles/pseuds/StrikerStiles
Summary: "There is this song in Finneral about one of the many folk heroes seeing her beloved for the very first time and there is this line in it that goes 'as beautiful as fresh snow and twice as bright'."
Relationships: Bern Finnkeeper the Younger/Aldasair Eskt
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	I promised you a heart

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I made up a song just to base this story on but I blame this entire thing on Bern for being such a representative of Peak Whipped Culture from day one.

There is this song in Finneral about one of the many folk heroes seeing her beloved for the very first time and there is this line in it that goes "as beautiful as fresh snow and twice as bright". Bern never really liked that song because his version of love, no matter how young he was, never included either that kind of perfection or that kind of ease. But that's the line that rings out in his mind when he sees Aldasair for the very first time, wearing dusty clothes and cobwebs in his hair and looking bone tired, oddly hollow. He is as far from perfection as it's possible for a member of legendary people to be, yet he's still as beautiful as fresh Finneral snow of Bern's childhood; soft and cold and yet still deadly. Fascinating. And twice as bright as well, for sure, so bright that it almost hurts to look at him. His eyes never meet Bern's, instead looking only at his cousin like he thinks everyone else is a mere vision and says another thing in their language. All Bern can decipher from it is that, based on the the little lilt at the end, it's a question.

_Yes_ , he finds himself answering the question, without even knowing what it meant. _Whatever you need, I'll give._

oOo

As they spend more and more time together, he realizes there is something tragic about Aldasair. He's like a painting with slashes across the canvas or a song cut in half at the highest note. He's been lonely too long. Cold and lost and hopeless. Bern waits impatiently for him to reveal a secret. When he finally does, spends the entire night awake, mending broken stone and chipped mortar, cleaning centuries worth of dust and dirt and leaves, picks up little figurines he unearths and gently puts them away to be given. By dawn his entire body is stiff, his head feels like it will cave in with how much it aches, his eyes sting from the wind and the lack of sleep. He's never been more exhausted. Never been more content.

Aldasair doesn't smile when he sees the tower again but the fog in his eyes clear out and under it his eyes are like the snowing sky, turbulent and pale and as familiar to Bern as his own home.

oOo

Then Aldasair tells him he loves him and lets him fight alongside him and lets him touch him, when it comes to that. Lets him learn all the quiet ways your heart can burst and be remade, again and again.

Once he's back on that dreadful ship, staring into the memory trapped inside that crystal, his mind gives him the answer, as simple as breathing. He erases that memory, replaces it with the first time his eyes ever held Aldasair, with dusty clothes and tired eyes and cobwebs in his hair. As beautiful as fresh snow and twice as bright. He feels the ship groan around him, the queen unravel bit by bit.

Let them burn as he had.

oOo

They are tucked in his bed under honestly a ridiculous amount of furs. The fire at the fireplace is small but it burns bright, keeps the room warmer than the early spring sun managed to keep the day. It's very dark apart from the fire and under its reddish light, Aldasair's face is even more magical, even more secretive.

"I've dreamed of you like this," he whispers into his neck, "in my bed; warm and safe and loved."

"Just that?"

There is a playful twinkle in his eyes, like the shimmer of the snow under harsh sunlight. It's blinding but far too beautiful to be looked away from. Bern leans in, gently kisses him.

"Maybe one more thing."

Aldasair smiles this time, pulls him to himself. The world is smaller than it has ever been at that moment, just them and the fire and leagues of snow outside.

Bern kisses his throat, the weakest point of it, the rhythm strong and deep under. Kisses his sternum. The small scar, a memento of past horrors on his side, closer to his stomach.

"There is this song," he says, raises his hand to the scar to feel its rough texture compared to the eternal smoothness of surrounding skin. "I think you should hear it."

"Will you sing to me?"

"Stones, no." He chuckles. "I should never be allowed to sing, my mother once told me when I was little, if we want to keep the world intact. But tomorrow, I will find Sena for you."

"At least tell me what is so special about this song." He looks full of curiosity, the light behind his eyes burns bright. He looks so alive, so real at that moment, it feels like a marvel. Like seeing war beasts hatch or the sky clear out once more, free of attackers.

"You'll have to wait until tomorrow," he says, his voice thick with emotion. "You know songs are always best when heard sung."

Aldasair tilts his head back slightly, rests it against the carved headboard. He's faintly smiling still.

"Tor says there are songs of us. The glory of war beasts, our noble resistance, our selflessness. Me breaking that crystal." He chuckles a bit. "As if any part of that was selfless. As if I wouldn't lay waste to the entire world if you were not returned to me. It's all wrong but the melody was nice, according to Tor."

"I don't know," Bern presses his lips to the scar. "Truths can be hidden in songs until we are ready to have them revealed to us.”

The look Aldasair gives him is full of questions again but it's alright. They have the fire and the night and the snow. That is enough.

oOo

They go hunting the next day, as his father wished. Aldasair mostly looks confused by their methods but he stands there under the pale sun, snow up to his knees, the sister of his own axe shining in his hand and-

And Bern silently apologizes to the hero he can't remember the name of, for the ignorance of his youth.


End file.
